Pile-forming and delivery means



Jam 2, 1934- s. G. JOHNSON PILE FORMING AND DELIVERY MEANS Filed July2l, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet l 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 QQ D w -NQ E T N wh www nuwww ww wh mw. Nw s w S. G. JOHNSON Filed July 21. 1930 OO S9 NNN -ANN

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PILE FORMING 'AND DELIVERY MEANS Filed July 21,-1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 4Patented `an. 2, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE N 1,942,172PILE-FORMING AND DELIVERY MEANS Selvar G. Johnson, Chicago, Ill.Application July 21, 1930. serial No. 469,600

2 Claims. (C1. 271-88) My invention relates to printing, and includesamong its objects and advantages the Vprovision of an improvedpile-forming and delivery means.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of amechanism according to the invention, together with the adjacent partsof a printing press associated therewith; Y Y l Figure 2 is aplan viewof the same mechanism; Figure 3 is a fragmentary end View of the same;Figure 4 is a section on line 4 4 of Figure 2; Figure 5 is a section online 5-5 of Figure 2;

and f. Figure 6 is an enlarged detail of the connec- 151 tions' at theend of the special conveyor.

ln'theembodiment of the invention selected for illustration, the deviceincludes pile-forming means; means for receiving and delivering theformed pile; power connections for actuating the receiving means and.the forming means from the movable parts of the` press; and a special`conveyor means facilitating delivery of individual sheets from thepressA to the pileforming means. f Y The pile-forming and receivingmeans are supported in a frame made up of rear uprights 10 and frontuprights 12. All theuprights are simple angle-irons, and they are open.toward the center of the frame. They are connected' at the bottom bytransverse bracing 'strips 14 and longitudinal angle-iron braces 16. Thesides are cross braced by diagonal strips 18 and by horizontal T bars 20at-the top. Y l l Transverse T'bars 22 connect the opposite sides at'the top. This leaves the entire front of the frame below the level ofthe T 'bars 20 and 22 open to permit the finished pile to move out ofthe frame. When the frame is positioned in front of a printing press,itis temporarily connected by braces 24 to the adjacent legs 26 of thepress itself. VThe vpile-forming means illustrated comprises a xed plateor stop 28 carried by the end of a rod 30 passing through a housing 32on the transverse'T bar22 and fastened in position by suitable setscrews 34. This stop receives the impact of the edge of the sheet ofpaper as it comes from the press. Y

After the sheet of paper has been stopped, it

is desirable to touch it gently on the sides not in contact with thestop 28, to'move it into perfect alignment with the pile of sheets belowit. For this purpose, each of the other T bars is provided with ahousing 36 identical Awith the housing 32, except that there are noset'screws 34. The plates or joggers 38 may be duplicates of the stop28. The jogger rods 40 extend through the housings 36 and carryadjustable transmission heads 42 clamped in place on the l Y rods bysuitable set screws V44, and each having transverse pins 46 projectingfrom the sides thereof. The rods 40 are made to t quite loosely in thehousings 36 so that the entire jogger structure including the jogger 38,rod 40 and head 42, may wobble aroundV and align itself perfect- 66y lywith the stop 28 by means of its contact with the pile of sheets lyingagainst the stop.

For actuating the joggers, I provide atransverse rock shaft 48 and twolongitudinal rock shafts 50 connected to the transverse rock shaft 70`by bevel gearing 52 at the rear corners of the frame." Each rock shaftcarries a crank arm 54 having a bifurcated upper end slotted at 56 toreceive the pins 46. By allowing clearance as at 58 between the ends ofthe crank arms and the 75 heads 42,.the joggers may be pushed toward thecenter toman extent determinable with fair precision, withoutinterfering in any Way with the looseness that permits them to wobbleand maintain perfect alignment.

For actuating the joggers from the press itself as a source of power, Imay provide a crank arm 60 'on'the transverse rock shaft 48 connected bya link 62 to an'intermediate point 64 on a crank 66. This crank 66 mayform part of the mechanism of the pressitself, being connected by a link68 to a rocker arm '70 or any other suitable oscillating part of thepress. By connecting the link 62 to either the crank 60 or the crank 66at varying'distances from the center of rotation,.the total movement ofthe joggers can be readily adjusted. It should be noted that the amountof backlash or looseness in the pivotal connections for the link 62, theintermeshing engagementof the teeth of the bevel gears 52, and theengagement of the pins 46 in the slots 56, is all immaterial and may bevery large without v interfering with perfect operation of the device.

It is only necessary to adjust the link 62 to produce enough motion totake up this backlash or looseness and still provide a sufficiently longstroke for the joggers, to produce a perfect result in the formation ofthe pile. The extreme limit of inward movement of each jogger 38 may bedetermined accurately since this limit is reached when the backlash isall taken up in one direction, and the set screws 44 make preciseadjustment a fairly easy matter.

It should also be noted that the bevel gears 52 only rotate through arelatively small fraction of a rotation. When the teeth in engagementbecome Worn, it is a simple matter to loosen the gears on their shaftsand rotate them 15 or so to bring fresh teeth into engagement. A verylong life for these parts, even when cheap stock gears are used, is thusassured.

The pile 72 formed by the joggers may rest in the first instance on astarting board 74 which, in turn, rests on the top table 76 of a Wheeleddelivery truck made up of said table and of four wheels 78 mounted onthe bottom thereof, all of which may be caster wheels if desired. Tomaintain the top of the pile at a substantially con-4 stant level duringits formation, it is necessary to lower the table 76 at a slow rate tocompensate for the increase in the height of the pile. I haveillustrated clips 80 in the form of angleirons underlying the side edgesof the table 76. From each end of each clip a sprocket. chain 82 runs upand over a sprocket 84 and down again to a counterweight 86. All foursprockets are connected together to raise or lower the corners of thetable in unison, as by mounting the sprockets on each side onlongitudinal shafts 88 and interconnecting the shafts by a transverseshaftv 9 0 across the front of the frame,y and bevel gears 92 at thefront corners.

The connections for lowering the table at a speed equal to the growth inheight of the pile,V comprise an actuating link 94 connected to anysuitable oscillating part of the press. I have i1- lustrated this linkas connected at 96 to the pivot interconnecting the lever 98 withA alink 100. ernployed to actuate one of the rolls, 102 of the press4itself. l This lever is rocked by a cam 104 engaging a,y roller 106 atthe lower end of the lever, theA lever being normally held against thecam by a compression spring 108 abutting a bell crank arm 110 projectingrearwardly from the lever. v

The front end of the link 94 actuates, a4 crank 112. Referring moreparticularly to Figs. 4 andA 5., the right-hand shaft 88 extends througha worm-wheel 114; through a splined clutch 1,16, for connecting theworm-wheel to the shaft; and terminates in a hand-wheel 118 providedwith a crank handle 120. Below the worm-wheel I support a worm-shaft 122in suitable bearings. The worm-shaft carries the worm 124 meshing withthe Worm-wheel 114;y an actuating ratchet 126,; and the crankv arm 112,the crank arm being free to rotatel on the shaft. The crank arm extendsboth above and below the shaft and at its upper end carries a suitablepawl 128 pivoted at 130 and normally urged by a spring 1,32 into aposition of engagement with thel teeth of, the ratchet 126. Theworm-wheel 114 is enclosed in a suitable housing 134, and on the face of this housing I mount a shield comprising a vertical plate 136, with ahorizontal shelf 138 overlying the teeth of the ratchet 126. Themounting is by meansof an arcuate slot 140 in the plate 136 andafastening screw 142. By moving the shield to various positions aroundthe axis of the shaft 122 as a center, part or all of the active strokeof the f' pawl 128 may be rendered ineffective for rotating the ratchet126 by holding the pawl outl of contact with the ratchet. It is only thelast portion of the stroke after the pawl has moved beyond the edge ofthe shield 138 that will be eifective. In this way, a fairly largevnumber of slightly different speeds of lowering may readily be obtained.

I prefer to extend the shaft 122.y through the crank 112', and to mounta hand-wheel; 1,414- with a. crankk handle 146; on the end thereof..

When the pile is to be delivered, either because it has grown to thecapacity of the receiving means, or because the requisite number ofsheets for the particular job in hand have been printed, the table 76 islowered until the Wheels 78 come to rest on the angle braces 16. Aslight further movement of the clips 80 will leave them dangling freelyjust below the edges of the table. The front legs; of the. frontuprightsA 12 are notched as, at A148 to clear the edges` 0f theV tableand permit the table and pile to roll out of the frame. To make thismovement less abrupt, the braces 1.6 are extended beyond the frontuprights 12 and their horizontal legs are separated from their verticalrlegs by sawing a slot, after which 90 the, horizontal legs are bentdownward as at 150 to form an inclined track section for easing theWheels of the truck down to the level of the floor supporting the frame.

After the finished pile has been thus removed, an empty truck can beslipped back into` the frame. By moving the clutch 116 to the left fromthe position shown i-n Fig. 2, the crank hans dle 120 can be operatedtcraise the table quickly to approximately the level desired for beginning190 a new pile.A Then, the clutch. may be moved to connect theworm-wheel to the Shaft, and thecrank handle 146 may be operated tobring the table to the precise level` desired. AS `Soon, as the machineis put in operation,v the. plate 136, may 105 be shifted to thepositionv necessary for; automatic; lowering of the table at the speed;appropriate for the thickness of paper being delivered by thev press.

The type of press illustrated, when. it is; not H0 used inv conjunction.with my improved pile receiving means, carries a simple table mountedon. a support at 152 upon which the papers passing up the conveyor 15.4may fall and accumulate inv anr irregular pile. The edges ofthe sheets115 this pile may then be, adjusted b y hand by standing the. pile onAedge.A When, my improved device is; to he associated with such a press,it is im-Y possible to position the table 76 close enough, to theconveyor 154 to receive sheets therefrom. be- 120 cause, the support 152is inthe way.,

I have provided a. detachable. auxiliary con.- veyor comprising a. frame15,6 providedr with conveying belts 158 of, any suitable or desired.oonstruction. This frame is. provided with adjust L25 able struts 160adapted to. rest onv the front end of the support 152 and its sidesextend beyond the end of the conveyor beltsl 158i andare noted as aty162 to. take over the stationary shaft 164 carrying the end roller ofthe. conveyor 154,. This 1.30 end rollery may be provided with a pinion16.6 anda power connectiontothe conveyor belts 15,8. may be establishedthrough an idler 168 driving a pinion 170. on the. adjacent end roll forthe belts 158. The idl'er 1.6.8' and the end roll carry- 135 ing thepinion 170 are journaled in the frame 156.` It. will be, obviousthatthis. frame. may be set in place on. a moments notice and removedagain toV permitv the, press to operate with its ordinary table wheneverthe nature of the kwork isnot such 114g as to require the use of mypile-forming andy delivery means. The edge of the 'sheet leaving theconveyor belts 158 may-'be guided down against the stop 28; by a stripof'light sheet metal 172'.

Without further elaboration, the foregoing. willy so. fully explain myinvention that, others may.. by applying current4 knowledge, readilyadapt. the same.- for use under' various conditions ofy service. It willalso be. obviousl that all the 150 features described need notnecessarily be employed in conjunction, as they may advantageously beutilized in various combinations and sub-combinations.

I claim:

1. A pile receiving and delivery mechanism comprising a frame made up offour upright angles all opening inwardly and braces between saiduprights, a wheeled delivery truck having a flat top table, elevatorclips for engaging the under-sides of opposite edges o'f said table andlifting it to the top of said frame, chain and sprocket means foroperating said elevator clips, counterweights for said chain andsprocket means, a reversible transmission for actuating said chain andsprocket means manually at relatively high speed, an irreversibletransmission for actuating said chain and sprocket means, connectionsfor driving said irreversible transmission by hand or by power at anyone of a plurality of predetermined relatively low speeds to lower saidclips, manual means for connecting said chain and sprocket meansselectively to said high speed or said low speed transmissions, saidwheeled truck being guided in its vertical movement by the angles ofsaid frame, two of said clined end portions for easing said truck onto alevel floor supporting said frame.

2. A pile receiving and delivery mechanism comprising a frame havingfour angle uprights all opening inwardly, a wheeled delivery truck,means for raising and lowering said truck inside said frame, saidwheeled truck being guided in its vertical movement by the angles ofsaid frame, two of said angles having their legs notched near the bottomto clear the edges of said table and permit exit of said truck, thespace between said notched legs being free and unobstructed to permitexit of the pile carried by said truck, certain of the bottom braces ofsaid frame forming tracks for said truck, said tracks having downwardlyinclined portions for easing said truck onto the level oor supportingsaid frame.

SELVAR G. JOHNSON.

